'Juicy, shocking, witty, and almost continually brilliant' COSMOPOLITAN
'A brilliant novel: honest, engaging and sharp as a tack' SARAH WATERS
'Lively, vivid and exceedingly entertaining' SUNDAY TIMES
'Not one of them, if she could help it, was going to marry a broker or a banker or a cold-fish corporation lawyer. . .'
New York, 1930. Eight Vassar graduates meet in New York to attend the wedding of one of their friends - and reconvene seven years later at her funeral. Young and fearless, they vow not to become stuffy and frightened like their parents, but to lead fulfilling, emancipated lives. But which of them will achieve that dream - and at what cost?
Ground-breaking in its fearless portrayal of female friendship, sex and the struggle to have it all, The Group was a revelation, a scandal, and an instant bestseller.
About the Author
Mary McCarthy (1912-1989) was born in Seattle, Washington. She was a short-story writer, bestselling novelist, essayist and an art critic. She was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters and won the National Medal for Literature and the Edward MacDowell Medal in 1984. Her debut novel, The Company She Keeps (1942), initiated her ascent to the most celebrated writers of her generation; the publication of her autobiography Memories of a Catholic Girlhood in 1957 bolstered this reputation. McCarthy wrote more than twenty-four books, including the now-classic novel The Group (1963). This was the New York Times Best Seller for two years.
Monica Ali is a bestselling writer whose work has been translated into 26 languages. She is the author of five books: Brick Lane, Alentejo Blue, In the Kitchen, Untold Story and Love Marriage. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, in 2003 she was named as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists. She has been nominated for, amongst others, the Booker Prize, the George Orwell Prize, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and in the U.S. has been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She lives in London.
'McCarthy's characters confront many of the same issues as their modern counterparts: sex and contraception, career and marriage, love and lust, fidelity to one's husband versus loyalty to one's friends and the attempt to carve out a place for oneself unconstrained by the gender limitations of previous generations. Its continuing relevance is one of the book's most extraordinary attributes' ELIZABETH DAY, GUARDIAN
Her greatest novel . . . marvellous . . . a prophetic book which set the scene . . . for the novels of protest and liberation in the next decade ― Independent
McCarthy's characters confront many of the same issues as their modern counterparts: sex and contraception, career and marriage, love and lust, fidelity to one's husband versus loyalty to one's friends and the attempt to carve out a place for oneself unconstrained by the gender limitations of previous generations. Its continuing relevance is one of the book's most extraordinary attributes -- Elizabeth Day ― Guardian
Shocking, titillating, and acid-laced . . . the book still dazzles as a generational portrait, falters as fiction, and blighted McCarthy's life -- Laura Jacobs ― Vanity Fair
She is a sparkler, a very funny, very savage moralist, and a brilliant mimic ― Spectator
McCarthy's dissection of this disparate group - highly educated but powerless in a world of men - is witty and merciless but tinged with sadness. ― Daily Mail
Juicy, shocking, witty, and almost continually brilliant ― Cosmopolitan
Absorbing, funny, painful . . . I consider it a masterpiece -- Hilary Mantel
Scalpel-keen prose, honed on ruthless wit and insight ― Observer
One of my favourite books ever -- India Knight
A woman of intellect and style -- Celia McGee ― New York Times
Feels like discovering a thrilling secret. Its prose shows a master stylist at work, its aesthetics are striking - all ivory-tipped cigarettes, hand-pureed pâté, Vassar socialists in dungarees - and it has a surprise queer romance that twists the whole narrative into new shape. It's my new standard for a summer read: lavish, hilarious, smart and mean, like a glamorous friend you're torn between fearing and crushing on -- Mikaella Clements
Few works of literature can genuinely be termed "ahead of their time" ― The Times
Lively, vivid and exceedingly entertaining ― Sunday Times
A brilliant novel: honest, engaging and sharp as a tack -- Sarah Waters
This is the book which has aroused considerable advance speculation and well it might; it has a tremendous reader recognition . . . there cannot be much doubt that Mary McCarthy is an exceptional social satirist, with a jackdaw eye and an infallible ear ― Kirkus Reviews
